Locked up
by may uzumaki
Summary: Hidan gets captured. Kakuzu goes to free him and also gets caught. And the rest of the Akatsuki get caught up in a battle that will stay with them forever, quite literally.
1. Chapter 1

This fic contains:

a bit of gore (nothing too graphic)

swearing

what could be considered Hidan x Kakuzu, but only if you like that pairing and read stuff like this like that

characters being a bit out of character

the entire Akatsuki sort of getting along

If you're fine with all that, then please start reading Locked Up.

* * *

There was one thing Hidan hated more than his precious God being insulted. There was one thing Hidan hated more than being called Albino Boy (generally by all the members of the Akatsuki).

And that was being locked up.

He despised it. He hated feeling so trapped. It made him feel lost.

It made him want to kill.

Not kill like he usually did. Kill as in tear every single person who came into his vision to pieces. This was why Kakuzu was always checking on him when they were fighting, because he was not going to be held responsible in any way for letting someone destroy a village. Plus he would always end up breaking Hidan out, because he was the one person Hidan couldn't kill. Well, not on the first try anyway.

It was impossible for Hidan not to be caught. He dragged his battles out for way to long, and gave the enemy to perform whatever jutsu they had in order to at least stop his movements and knock him out. Which was why Kakuzu had locked himself in his room and was refusing to come out.

"Kakuzu, please go and break Hidan out," Pein said though the locked door.

Silence.

"Please...I'll give you money."

Silence.

"Kakuzu..."

"I am not going! That guy killed me four times last time I broke him out! You go, you have all those bodies that can fight!" Kakuzu yelled.

"Kakuzu I will lock you in a room with Tobi if you don't go!"

"That guy knows not to annoy me! It wouldn't work!"

"I will lock you in with Hidan!"

"He's in jail you idiot!"

"It's your fault he ended up in jail! If you hadn't knocked him out with that Earth jutsu we wouldn't be in this situation!" Pein bellowed, losing his patientence. This caught Kakuzu. It had admittedly been his fault that Hidan had been captured, and he had admittedly not given Hidan any warning he was going to attack.

"I'm still not going!" he yelled childishly. Pein sighed. "Deidara get over here! I need this doorway gone!" he yelled.

"Sure un!"

"Hey wait a second..."Kakuzu said.

BOOM!

Kakuzu was blown off his bed and into the wall. He sat up, visualising ways of killing his leader and teammate. Pein marched in, grabbed Kakuzu and dragged him out of the room and towards the door. He flung Kakuzu outside.

"We are not letting you back in until you go and break Hidan out," he said. "Nor will we help you in anyway. Goodbye."

And with that he slammed the door.

* * *

The next chapter will be posted tomorrow, and then I'll post every Monday or Friday.


	2. Chapter 2

Hidan was annoyed. He had been locked in a tiny cage, blindfolded and handcuffed. How could any man not be annoyed? And worst of all he had to get captured because of Kakuzu! The idiot man hadn't given him any warning! How was he supposed to dodge when he was right in the middle of all those ninjas? Eh?

"Shitty old man," he muttered under his breath. Surprisingly no one kicked him, punched him, or told him to shut up. He hadn't actually heard anyone. He knew he was being moved, he could hear the creak of wheels and was jolted when the thing went over bumps. He had given up trying to figure out where the hell he was going, one of the very few reasons he travelled with Kakuzu was because the man knew which way was left and which way was right. Hidan had failed at trying to figure out what the symbol for a caravan park was on a map.

"Finally, we're here," someone said. Hidan tuned in instantly. This was good, this was a voice.

"What was the number again?" the same voice asked.

"Um...2749201478527 I think," another voice said. Hidan heard some scratching sounds and then something moving. A blast of cold air hit him. Was he being taken into a cave? How would he get out if you needed a code to open the thing up and he didn't know how to insert it? How would anyone get in?

"Damn it," Kakuzu muttered. "I don't even know which village took Hidan, none of them were wearing headbands. They could be bounty hunters like me for all I know. What am I suppose to do?"

_Bounty hunters..._

An idea came to Kakuzu's mind. He turned and sprinted off, jumping though the trees. Ten minutes later he was facing Zangei*. Thank God he had been staying nearby.

"You're looking for Hidan? No one's sent me anything to say he's been cashed in," he said. "Sorry."

"Meh, it's fine," Kakuzu said, turning to leave.

"What did they look like?" Zangei asked. "Did they have masks, swords, anything like that?"

Kakuzu took a minute to picture the ninja that had attacked. They had all worn hoods that had covered everything except their eyes, and most of them had had some strange body modification.

"Fuck," he said. "This is bad."

He sprinted out of the bounty station, he had to get to the boarder of the Land of Fire and into the neighbouring country.

"Please don't let me be too late," he pleaded.

"Let me out fuckers!" Hidan yelled. He had finally been allowed to see his surroundings, only to find himself locked in a cell and chained to the wall. Whist he could walk about a meter away from the wall, he couldn't do much else. His hands were cuffed behind him. And he was wearing a collar, as if to add to the humiliation.

"Fuckers!" he yelled as the ninja disappeared from sight, leaving him all alone. He sat down and screamed words of rage to the people that weren't even there.

* * *

* Zangei-bounty exchange master who runs a bounty station.

O.K, I'm going to post chapters every Monday and Friday after this. And by the way, the chapters will get longer!


	3. Chapter 3

Forgot to mention in chapter 1, the characters aren't going to be perfect copies of how they are in the manga or anime. I'm going to change characters like such as Pein to make them more funny or another reason like that.  


* * *

"You threw him out?" Sasori said, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't that more likely to make him leave Hidan and go off on his own?"

"I know and I regret it now," Pein said, his head in his hands.

"I never thought you would do something like that," Kisame said. "Getting mad with a man over ninety, how are you gonna cope with everyone once we rule the world?"

"You should have let him get on our nerves so much that we did it," Deidara said. "Then we would have a chance of him coming back."

"I get it alright!" Pein yelled banging the table with his fist. "I get that I messed up!"

"You didn't mess up," Itachi said. "What you did was something _so_ much bigger..."

"You chose this moment to speak?" Pein yelled. "Just shut up all of you!"

"But you're the one that's yelling..."Deidara muttered. Pein glared at the poor blonde.

"I have a bad feeling about this. Nobody follow Kakuzu, but if he isn't back in two weeks we're go and find him and Hidan," he said. "But if anyone hears anything, and I mean anything, tell me straight away. This isn't going anywhere good."

Kakuzu had reached the Land of Fire's boarder in three hours. The Land of Sound was staring at him. Now to find where Hidan might have been taken in the country. He searched until he found a main road. He backtracked a bit and performed a simple transformation. People tended to give you true answers and polite answers when you didn't look like an Akatsuki and didn't have a mask that covered most of your face. Acting as confident as he could, he started to walk towards the border checkpoint.

"Ah, sir. We need to see your passport..." one of the Konoha ninjas said as he walked past. Kakuzu turned.

"Oh! I left my passport back at the hotel, but I think my friend might have come this way. I'm just checking. Has anyone come through here by the way?" he said.

"Not today sir. Only a small group with a cart."

"You talking about those guys?" another ninja yelled, suddenly appearing. He turned to Kakuzu. "They had a caught missing nin. They produced the bingo book and everything. Picture matched perfectly, grey hair, sarcastic smile, the lot. Apparently his partner, to put it in their words, "an old man who's somehow able to stand up", got away, easily abandoning his partner."

_Old man?_ Kakuzu thought. If he found those guys they were so dead. He was very sensitive about his age, even Hidan avoided the topic.

"I guess he didn't come this way," he said, sighing. "Sorry for bothering you guys."

"It's nothing. It's nice to have someone to talk to," one of the men said as Kakuzu walked away. The latter grinned, he had the information he needed so desperately. Hidan had come this way, he was being taken to that man. Now the question was, could he get to Hidan before Hidan got to that man? Only time would tell. He was out of sight now. He changed back into his usual self and jumped into the forest. The boarder wouldn't be heavily guarded, the Land of Sound was a very small country, not considered much of a threat by the Land of Fire with good reason. He would just need to check that there were no patrols quickly before he crossed. He checked the hundred meters around him quickly. No one was around. He quickly crossed the border and made his way back to the path, making sure he was away from the checkpoint. Now to just track down that cart.

Kakuzu had just made one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

Hidan had given up yelling after his voice had gone horse and his throat had been dry and raw. Now he was doing sit-ups, deciding that if he was stuck in a cell and he couldn't even get close to the door he might as well do something to pass the time, and training was a good thing to do. It was as if he had a Kakuzu in his mind, telling him to stay calm and not go mad. Hidan figured he wouldn't go mad if he was doing something that wasn't sitting and thinking. But questions still slipped into his mind, mainly "where the hell am I?" Hidan couldn't figure it out. He thought he was in a cave, because of the whole rock sliding thing. But he was stumped after that. This really was problematic.

"What would Kakuzu do?" he wondered aloud. The old man would probably sit down and wait for the best chance, but Hidan really wasn't a patient person. So he figured what else Kakuzu might do. Breaking the chains came to mind so Hidan sat up and looked around for anything he could use as a file or saw. There was nothing, not even a rock. There was a file in one of his shoes, but both had been taken away. Which left him with nothing.

"Oh come on, give me something!" he yelled to the heavens. "Even a pebble would be nice!"

Nobody answered of course, that would just be too good. God this was depressing, he was being driven insane and he had only been in the place for five hours or so. What would happen after six?

Back at the Akatsuki base, Deidara was acting depressed. Sasori had noticed it, the brat hadn't said anything about his art in two hours. And he was being perfectly quiet, and was lying on his bed.

"What's wrong?" he finally asked. Deidara looked over at him.

"There's no one close to my age that I can talk to," he whined.

"Itachi's closest to your age and he's here," Sasori said dryly.

"I said someone I could talk to," Deidara said flatly. "Itachi may be the closest in age, but I can't get on with him! Hidan was the second closest and he actually talked, even if half of it annoyed me! Kisame is the third closest but he's like 13 years older than me! Now that Hidan's gone, there's no one to talk to and annoy!"

"Then blow something up or something," Sasori said. "Besides, you've gone without talking without him ages before."

"Yeah...but it's like Pein said. I have a feeling that something's about to happen," Deidara said. "I'm worried."

* * *

Reviews are loved as is constructive criticism, flames aren't loved.


	4. Chapter 4

There was something odd, Kakuzu knew it. He just couldn't figure out what it was. Something was just wrong.

_Shut the fuck up Kakuzu!_

_You carry the bounty, you're the one who wants the money..._

God, it was too quiet. Hidan would always make sure there was some sound, even if it was just his footsteps. It was just...wrong now that there was no noise. He wondered how much Hidan was getting on his captors nerves. Would they have snapped yet? It was best if they didn't, who knew what they would do otherwise. Hidan was looking death in the eye if that guy snapped.

Hidan could see something in the corner of his cell. It had eyes, and it was defiantly alive. And it had a very hungry look in its eyes. It was creeping him out. It had been there for the last half an hour, and Hidan was fed up. He stamped on the floor in an attempt to drive the thing out. It worked in a sense. A large snake started slithering towards him.

"Holy crap," Hidan exclaimed. He didn't know snakes got that big. This one had to be at least five meters long and it was fat. Hidan suddenly wished it had stayed in the corner. It had been a lot less intimating. And this one looked like it wanted to take a bite out of him. Frantically Hidan looked for a weapon. There was nothing. Maybe he could knock it out with a kick? Whatever he did, he had to do it soon, the snake was coming closer. And it might be poisonous. Lost limbs would grow back but poison took forever leave him.

"Leave me alone you fucking snake," Hidan yelled, bringing his foot up and down on the creature's head. It seemed to have some effect, as the creature stopped moving. Hidan kicked it away and it landed by the bars of the cell.

_Cell..._

"Let me out!" Hidan suddenly screamed. "Let me out fuckers!"

"Whistle while you work..." Deidara sang tunelessly.

"Shut up!" Sasori yelled. "You've been repeating that song for the last half hour! Shut up!"

I sing when I'm worried about someone else. Haven't you ever noticed?" Deidara said. "And right now I'm worried about Hidan and Kakuzu. They're in danger, big danger."

"I wonder if Pein will believe rumours I make up on the spot?" Sasori wondered. "I might actually go and beg him to let us go after those two idiots."

"Tell him Orochimaru's been quiet recently and you think he might have lured Hidan out or something," Deidara said, obviously having planned out the conversation beforehand when he was singing. Sasori looked up from his puppet.

"Repeat that," he said in a strangled voice.

"Tell him Orochimaru's been quiet recently and you think he might have lured Hidan out or something," Deidara said again, confused. Sasori swore loudly, then turned rapidly.

"Make a clay bird that can do long distance now!" he yelled. Alarmed by the sudden change in personality, Deidara started moulding a small bird. Sasori sat down and began scribbling a message down on a small piece of paper.

"Make loads of them," he instructed as he started copying the message down on to another piece of paper. "Kisame!"

The blue haired man appeared after half a minute. "What is it?" he asked.

"Get Pein to bring Zetsu back here now," Sasori said. "Tell him it's a Class S situation, and no we don't need someone to open a jar!"

"You might wanna do it quick, this is the most he's said in the last month or so," Deidara said, placing another bird on the table. Kisame sprinted off as Deidara started attaching the paper to the birds. He returned ten minutes later with a rather annoyed Zetsu.

"So why have we been dragged back here?" Zetsu's white half said.

"I need you to go to the Land of Sound and see if Kakuzu's there," Sasori said, not looking up.

"Kakuzu? Why does it matter if he's there?" Zetsu asked.

"I need a theory confirmed," Sasori said. "Hurry up and check."

"Meh, fine," Zetsu said, walking off.

"I said hurry," Sasori said. "You want me to find some weed killer?"

"Bye!" both of Zetsu's personalities yelled, sprinting off.

"Please let me be wrong, just this once," Sasori quietly begged.

* * *

I know I said in chapter 2 the chapters would get longer but you might have to wait a while, sorry.


	5. Chapter 5

Oh my God I'm so sorry for not updating on Friday! My Internet was fine for half an hour, then it didn't work for the rest of the day! I only got it working properly today! So that's why there are two chapters today. Enjoy!  


* * *

"For the love of Jashin!" Hidan bellowed. "Can someone show themselves? I don't even care if it's a demonic cat wanting revenge, well actually I would care...but that's beside the point! Just let me know the world hasn't died!"

Of course, silence just had to reach his ears. "Seriously?" Hidan yelled. "Did everyone die or something?"

Silence.

"For fuck's sake, will someone fucking come?" Hidan screamed, turning and punching the wall.

It had been over eight hours easily. But it defiantly hadn't been ten. Eight to ten hours trapped in a cell. And Hidan had lost it. Screaming, he punched the wall again and again until blood dripped to the floor.

"I saw a figure who resembled Kakuzu vividly," Zetsu said. "Happy?"

"No," Sasori said.

"That's good because none of us are," Deidara said. "I mean, you just dragged all of us here, including Pein, who's still moody about the last meeting we held, were we all told him what he an idiot he was for throwing Kakuzu out."

"Do you need to constantly remind me?" Pein asked, danger in his voice.

"No," Deidara said. "Shall we move on?"

"Let's," Sasori said, sighing. "Alright, to put it simply, Orochimaru has had his ninjas kidnap Hidan."

"Wow that's really simple...wait, say what?" Pein said, yelling the last part. Sasori sighed.

"And this is why I try to keep it simple. Alright, we are all aware that Orochimaru is interested in immortality. Correct?"

"Yes," was the monotone reply.

"Good. This is good. Now, are we all aware of Hidan's immortality?"

"Yes."

"Right. And do we see how the two fit together?" Sasori asked.

"No, not really," Deidara said. "I think only Konan and Itachi understand really."

"It's true, sadly," Konan said. Itachi merely nodded.

"You're saying that Orochimaru had Hidan kidnapped so he could experiment on him and somehow become immortal," he said. Sasori nodded.

"Thank you for reminding me that there are some smart people here. Anyway, you hit the nail on the head first time. I've sent messages to my spies and they say that Hidan has been spotted with Sound Ninjas. Orochimaru doesn't like us, but he knows about us, and therefore knows about..." he trailed off as a look of horror came over his face.

"What is it?" Tobi asked. Pein realised it first. "Oh God," he said. "He knows about Kakuzu as well...and Kakuzu is going right to him."

"This is all your fault!" Deidara yelled, standing up and pointing at Pein. "You sent him after Hidan, you sent him to Orochimaru!"

"Will you stop bringing that up?" Pein yelled back. "You don't need to rub it in so much!"

"Yeah, guys, in case you haven't realised, Kakuzu is either in danger, or he's been caught, and Hidan has defiantly been caught. What the hell are we going to do?" Kisame asked, breaking up the argument.

"You're right," Pein said. "Go and pack for a long mission, all of you. I don't know how long, take a guess. Be ready in ten minutes."

Kakuzu had easily found the tracks from the cart, and had been following them for a few hours. Dusk had come, and Kakuzu stopped and watched as an owl passed overhead, scanning the path for its meal. A small grey mouse sprinted across the path and the owl dived, barely missing the mouse that had just reached the bushes on the other side of the road. If only Hidan had been like that mouse, evading capture.

…

He was comparing Hidan to a mouse. Oh God he was finally losing it, Hidan was finally making him go insane. He had to think about the bright side of things, that always helped.

Maybe Hidan had escaped, but Kakuzu refused to give him that much credit. Besides, Hidan couldn't tell left from right, he would have been easily picked up again. Which meant there was nothing positive to think about.

"Idiot!" he bellowed, startling the owl into flying away and causing every small animal (along with every large animal) in the surrounding bushes to run off, terrified of the giant. Angry, Kakuzu lashed out at a nearby tree, almost snapping it in half. He was fed up, completely tired of having to constantly break Hidan out. It was as if the idiot did it on purpose.

"_You...you came."_

Kakuzu stopped suddenly, remembering the words that Hidan had first spoken when he had been caught the first time. Why did he remember that now?

"_Meh, I don't have to worry about being kidnapped, 'cause I know you'll turn up to break me out."_

It couldn't be...did Hidan actually let himself be captured? Did he actually let something hit him in the back of the head, purposely take his time, just so he could be caught? Why?


	6. Chapter 6

Last chapter for this story today, enjoy.

_Note-this chapter contains some gore, but it's not described too graphically. If you are quite sensitive to this stuff though, you may wish to skip this chapter (but it really isn't that graphic!)._

* * *

"Yes," Konan calmly said.

"Why?" Kisame asked.

"Because Kisame, if we stop Kakuzu will put even more distance between himself and us," Konan said. "That's why we should keep on going through the night. Also, we're close to the boarder, and we don't need to wake up in a cell."

The eight members of the Akatsuki had taken two and a half hours, instead of the three Kakuzu had taken, to get to the boarder. Much too every man's chagrin, Konan had instated they keep going for another two hours at least.

"Kakuzu's already several hours ahead, and we might lose any evidence of where he went if we don't move," she continued.

"But we won't be able to see the tracks as clearly," Pein argued. "And there's no point in fighting Orochimaru when we all look like we've been dragged though a hedge."

"We could at least get over the border," Konan said. Pein sighed and gave in.

"Weakling," all the other men muttered darkly.

"You want your wages to be lost?" Pein asked.

"Kakuzu pays us," Itachi said. "You have no control over our wages."

Kakuzu had tried calling out, but had heard no reply. Looking was getting him nowhere, he had followed the cart tracks and found the cart by a large mountain. It was as if the ninjas had performed a magic trick and magically vanished into thin air. Where had they gone?

"Hidan!" he called out again. Again, there was no reply. Where was he? Kakuzu sighed and started yet another walk around the bottom of the mountain. They could be higher up, but he hadn't seen evidence of any kind that there was anything up there. If this next walk failed to bring anything to light, he would climb up and look. Then he would give up and move on. To where he didn't know, but he would find something that would take him to Hidan and home.

Hidan had pretty much lost all hope two hours before. Now he was lying in his cell, too tired to even smile when he heard footsteps.

"I see you finally stopped shouting."

Hidan didn't respond, he merely lifted his head slightly so he could see the person's feet. It sounded like a man who was speaking.

"I see the rumours were correct," the man said. "You really do hate being locked up, don't you?"

Hidan twitched, the man annoyed him, even if he hadn't said anything to provoke him.

"I suppose we should start. I'll see you in a few minutes Hidan," the man said, snapping his fingers. Hidan heard the cell door being unlocked and footsteps come towards him. He didn't try to escape as two people unlocked his chains and roughly lifted him to his feet, before forcing him to walk forward and out of the cell. He found himself dragged down winding corridors, through a door that was covered in blood on one side but spotless on the other. He was tossed on to a table and chained down. It was only then that Hidan felt anything. And that was worry. What was going to happen to him? The ninjas ran off, leaving Hidan on his own.

"I really didn't expect you to lose so much of your will so quickly," the man said, stepping into view. Hidan scowled, his eyes somehow not seeing the man. Hidan forced them to work, to observe. The man had very pale skin, practically white, and his eyes were purple. Hidan couldn't take in much more after that. He just couldn't. Slowly he forced his brain to work, he knew who this man was.

"Cat got your tongue? Did all that screaming tire you out?" the man said.

There had been a snake...and body modifications...and a snake...he knew who this man was. Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, was standing in front of him. Hidan growled softly, he didn't want this man anywhere near him. He had never met the guy in person before now, but he had heard enough to know the guy was powerful. And freaky. He experimented on live people! Hidan was worried.

"You know, I've heard that you're immortal," Orochimaru said, circling Hidan, who eyed him as much as possible, determined to figure the man out. "It's something I long for dearly. So I've been wondering, are there any changes, mutations that your body has that makes it different? There's only one way to find out."

The man took out a small knife and walked round so he was facing Hidan directly. Then he cut Hidan's clock off, leaving him bare-chested. A look of concern entered Hidan's eyes as this was done. Orochimaru smiled evilly and made two thin cuts, barely breaking the skin, in a cross shape on Hidan's stomach. Seemingly satisfied, he plunged the knife into Hidan and started cutting him open. Hidan screamed in pain as Orochimaru cut across the other line and peeled Hidan's skin back.

"Doesn't seem to be anything different," he muttered slowly, probing at various organs, causing Hidan to scream even more. He realised now what the chains where for, he had been fighting to break free quite desperately. Anything other than chains would have broken by now.

"FUCK!" Hidan screamed in pain as Orochimaru grabbed a rib and snapped it cleanly in half. The man followed up by grabbing his heart and pulling it out of his chest slightly. Disturbingly, Orochimaru seemed to enjoy the scream and drew the heart out even more. Hidan screamed every single swear word he knew as Orochimaru left the heart connected to the veins and started to cut it open, Blood spilled out and splattered on to the floor. Orochimaru started to examine the organ with great interest as Hidan fought against his bindings.

Kakuzu looked up at the mountain. He was going to regret this so much later. Slowly he gathered chakra and started to walk up the mountain. Half an hour later, he was having a hard time breathing, he had been travelling all day and as it was pitch black, he had to take his time so he didn't slip, which of course cost him more chakra.

"Go!"

Kakuzu turned rapidly as five ninja shot at him, obviously full of chakra. He dodged the blows sent at him, only to be sent into the rock as five more ninja snuck up behind him and attacked. He reached for a kunai but was blocked by a barrage of punches and kicks, each blow sending him further into the mountain. By the time he could get out he felt faint and weak. Then a blow came for his face and everything went black.


	7. Chapter 7

When Kakuzu woke up the first thing he saw was the ground. His neck hurt a lot. Slowly he lifted his head, feeling a stab of pain as the numbness in his neck disappeared. He saw bars. Where the hell was he? He took in his surroundings. Stone walls, stone floor, stone ceiling, _steel_ bars and chains that were holding him upright in a sitting position. The cell was cast in shadow, but he could still see a cell opposite him. If someone was in there, they were either asleep or didn't talk.

"Hello?" he said hesitantly, catching the smell of blood then.

"Hi," was the answer he got, followed by the sound of retching. Something splattered on to the floor. "Hi Ka..." the voice was cut off as its owner started coughing madly, occasionally bringing something up. Kakuzu froze. The other occupant knew his name. Who were they?

"Damn it..." the mystery voice muttered. "It hurts." They started coughing again, each cough a death rattle.

"How do you know my name?" Kakuzu asked as the coughing lessened.

"What...the...fuck are...you...talking about?" the voice asked. "It's...me...fucker."

Kakuzu felt himself go pale. "Hidan?" he said, bewildered. "Is that you?"

"No, it's your great aunt Betty," Hidan said sarcastically, after several splatters. "Of course it's me. What are you doing here?"

"I came looking for you," Kakuzu said. "What else?"

"The cage..."

"I found where you might be, which was by a mountain, and when I was climbing up the mountain using chakra, I got caught in an ambush. And woke up here. I am abandoning you next time," Kakuzu muttered darkly.

"You said that last time," Hidan muttered. "I'm tired, goodnight."

Kakuzu waited for what he felt was around three hours before someone appeared. Unlike Hidan, he recognised Orochimaru straight away, having actually seen the man before then. He heard the sound of a snake hissing, but ignored it, used to the sound by that point. Orochimaru smiled sinisterly. Kakuzu felt a sudden urge to kill the man, more so than he had before.

"Hello Kakuzu," the Sannin said.

"Hello," Kakuzu said. "How nice to see you again Orochimaru," he continued, forcing the words out without any annoyance in them. He felt it caused him more mental agony then Hidan caused him daily. "What can I do for you?"

Orochimaru smiled again. Kakuzu was really getting pissed off by now.

"I don't believe you've noticed the snake that's currently right next to you," Orochimaru said. "It's one of my favourites, a rather rare species that bites once to inject it's poison. Once bitten the victim passes out and suffers from extreme pain for the next week before passing on. That's the longest anyone's ever survived however, so nobody knows if you're meant to die after a week, or if the snake relies on you dying from the pain."

"So you're seeing how long I survive?" Kakuzu guessed.

"No no, I'm doing this for more than one reason. One, I want to observe what happens in your body as you die, as your heart stops for a while until you can get it beating again, correct? I believe the results will be most enlightening. If you're wondering how, the chains you're currently held in absorb chakra. I'll merely watch how much chakra they're absorbing and I'll study the results. Two, I'm curious to know if people do drop dead after a week from poison, or just from pain," Orochimaru said. Kakuzu turned his head slightly and found the black eyes of a snake staring at him. Frantically he tried to move his arm, but he barely could, and the snake didn't even notice. It opened its massive jaws and bit down hard.

"Where are they?" Deidara bellowed. "We've been searching for six hours, and we find nothing!"

"Calm down," Kisame said. "We'll find them."

"He does have a point though," Pein said. "We've been searching all this time, but we haven't found anything. The cart tracks end here, so where did they go after that?"

"One minute," Deidara said, his back to everyone. "I have an idea."

"You plan on blowing a hole in the mountain," Itachi said. "Brilliant."

"Oh shut up," Deidara said, as several large spiders scuttled over to the mountain and latched on to it. "KATSU!"

BOOM!

Once the dust had cleared and everyone had stopped choking, Konan yelled, "found it!"

"Eh?" everyone else said. Sure enough, there was a staircase which disappeared into darkness.

"Ha!" Deidara yelled. "Take that Uchiha!"

"You have to be kidding me," Itachi muttered. "He was right."

"Hey!" Deidara protested. Pein grabbed the back of the teen's shirt and sighed. "Stop it Deidara," he said. "We have to go and find Hidan and Kakuzu." And with that he started down the steps, not showing any apparent fear. Deidara frowned.

"Pein, I know we have to find Kakuzu and Hidan, but how is clinging to the back of my shirt and dragging me going to help?" he asked.


	8. Chapter 8

OMG, I'm so sorry for not updating you guys! It's just that I've been really busy whenever I want to upload this, and I just plain forgot too sometimes.

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"Lord Orochimaru, someone has...blown a hole in our hideout," Kabuto said, unsure of how on earth he should phase the last part. His master's eyes flickered in the candlelight, never blinking, never showing emotion.

Just like a snake.

"Who is it?" Orochimaru asked. Kabuto frowned. "Judging by the explosions, paper flying around and downright weirdness going on outside, I would presume it's the Akatsuki," he said. Orochimaru smiled evilly.

"Is it indeed? Seems they do care about their comrades, they came to rescue them. How sweet. Now what to do..."

"Shall I dispatch the Sound Five sir?" Kabuto suggested. Orochimaru waved it aside.

"No, even they would barely be able to take out one of the Akatsuki if the group in question was all together. They could pick off two pairs if they took them by surprise probably. But even I can't beat all of them at once, even one on one would be too much. What to do...alright, Kabuto, go with your plan, dispatch the Sound Five. I'll join the fight sooner or later."

Kabuto nodded and left the room. Orochimaru lay back in his throne like chair. He was in trouble, and he knew it. It had taken a lot to get hold of the information about Hidan and actually catch both him and Kakuzu. It would be annoying if they left now, he had barely started researching Kakuzu. And he would lose a majority of his Sound ninja at this base, with only a few surviving. Hopefully Kabuto and the Sound Five would survive. He of course would survive, but he would be badly injured.

_Going back to the scene that involved the Akatsuki ten minutes ago..._

"This is kind of freaky un," Deidara whispered. "I mean, the corridors are barely lit, you can hear snakes and feel them staring at you, but you can't see them, and you know you are going to be attacked, you just have no idea when un."

"Soon, if you don't shut up," Pein muttered. "Where are they anyway?"

"Maybe Deidara should blow another hole in the wall," Sasori suggested. "It worked last time."

"No," Pein said, in a "that should be obvious" voice.

"Pein," Konan, who was at the back, said. "You're aware of the ten or so Sound nin following us right?"

"Yes," Pein said. "Alright guys, our cover is blown, so do whatever the hell you want to do until you find Hidan and Kakuzu!"

"We never had any cover to be blown!" Deidara yelled as he sprinted off with Sasori.

"We'll deal with the problem down this end," Kisame said, gesturing to himself and Itachi. "We'll catch up with you guys."

"Thanks!" Tobi yelled as he, Zetsu, Pein and Konan sprinted in the same general direction as Deidara and Sasori, only to veer off as an explosion echoed throughout the cave/hideout/secret laboratory. Kisame started to shed the poor Sound nin with Samehada and Itachi proceeded to ignite them with a fireball. They were done in less than a minute, and decided to start actually looking for Hidan and Kakuzu by yelling their names, something that everyone else had appeared to forget to do, despite the fact their presence had been so obviously announced it was pointless to be quiet.

"Hidan, you awake?" Kakuzu asked. A large coughing fit answered him. That was a yes. "You hear that?" Kakuzu asked. "You hear all that noise?"

"...yeah..." Hidan crocked out. "Is it the others?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I can't think how they would figure out that we're here."

Hidan groaned in annoyance. His coughing fits had been getting worse, and Kakuzu was worried. Hidan might be immortal, and he might enjoy inflicting pain on himself, but he did have limits, and he had defiantly found his. But Kakuzu was barely keeping himself from screaming in pain. Less than a second after he had been bitten waves of pain had shot through his body. He had barely kept himself from crying out. But knowing that Hidan was worried enough as it was, and he just refused to show that he was in pain in front of Orochimaru, Kakuzu had kept quiet. It was still an effect though.

"Hidan!"

"Kakuzu!"

"Itachi? Kisame?" Hidan said. "No way...WE'RE HERE!" he bellowed. The effect proved a bit too much and he collapsed, coughing up blood.

"We go down that corridor obviously un!"

"No! It came from over there idiot!"

"I thought it came from there!"

"Can Deidara just blow in a hole in the wall again?"

"Sure un!"

BOOM!

"That wasn't what we had in mind," Kakuzu muttered as Itachi, Kisame, Sasori and Deidara appeared, covered in dust and blood.

"And it works again!" Deidara yelled. "I hate to admit it, but that was a good idea Itachi!"

"I think I just lost an eardrum," Kisame muttered darkly.

"Can you help us?" Kakuzu finally said. "Save the conversation for later!"

"Sure un," Deidara said as he walked over. Itachi followed and started picking the lock on Kakuzu's cell. Deidara went over to Hidan and gulped loudly.

"Does anyone here know any medical jutsu?" he asked. "Cause I think Hidan needs it bad."

"What happened to him?" Sasori asked as he walked over, then took a few steps back. "Oh God..." he mumbled. Hidan was in clear view now, lying on his side with his organs kept inside of him by the two stitches that held the flaps of skin together loosely. If Hidan had rolled on to his stomach and been lifted up you would be able to see everything trying to get out. Already one side of his stomach bulged slightly. Blood had seeped out and Hidan was lying in a massive pool of the stuff, which Deidara realised he was kneeling in. He hurriedly shuffled backwards, showing a clear trail as to where he was.

"Shit," Sasori muttered, trying to avoid the ever-growing pool of blood and pick the lock. "Is it even possible for a human to have this much blood?"

"Obviously so," Kisame said, coming over. "I'll get him." He walked into the now unlocked cage and rolled Hidan over so he was on his back, not his side. There was a sickening noise that couldn't quite be described as the organs shifted. The shark man lifted Hidan up, getting his hands and arms even more covered in blood and causing several splatters as blood ran off Hidan's back. "At least it wasn't his brain," Kisame said busily. "I can easily deal with stuff coming from the stomach, but I hate getting covered in brain matter, it sticks to you,"

"You seem use to this," Deidara said shakily. Kisame nodded. "Back in Kiri there was a lake where they use to dump dead bodies without cleaning them. The water was bright red and they would take us they so we learnt how to walk on water. You were walking on blood, and when you fell in you where swimming in blood. You would come home, covered in this bright red stuff and stinking of blood and decomposing bodies. If you didn't start getting it after a while, they would throw you in and you would sink enough to hit one of the bodies. That generally taught you a whole lot faster."

"Lovely," Deidara said, turning towards Itachi and Kakuzu, the latter having fallen unconscious for some unknown reason. Itachi was busy attempting to unlock Kakuzu's chains, but failing. Deidara walked in and examined the chains.

"Aren't those the ones that absorb your chakra and only unlock if you destroy the thing that takes in all the chakra?" he asked. Itachi examined the chains again.

"You're right," he said sullenly. Deidara smiled. "So now what un?" he asked.

"Blow a tiny hold in the wall, the receiver will be behind there," Itachi said. "But don't get Kakuzu."

Deidara smiled slightly as he formed a bomb and set it on the wall. "Katsu," he whispered. Itachi barely heard the explosion that followed. Deidara dug out the first brick and Itachi did the second. Soon they had a large gap in the wall next to Kakuzu.

"So that's it un," Deidara said, staring at the pulsing green orb in front of them.

"Yeah," Itachi said. "Hurry up and destroy it."

"Got it un," Deidara said, forming a large clay spider and setting it down. "Katsu."

Itachi defiantly heard the explosion that followed that one. He turned and started breaking Kakuzu's chains, which were like paper now that they weren't draining any chakra. Then he stopped. "How are we meant to carry him? The only one taller than him is Kisame, it will take both of us to carry him."

"I'll carry him," Kisame said, ducking as he entered the cell. He placed Hidan on the ground and found some bandages, which he started to tightly tie around Hidan's chest.

"I've seem blind men do better," Sasori said. Kisame rolled his eyes. "I'm a Village of the Mist missing ninja, not a Village of people who are all bloody doctors missing ninja. I know how to kill, I don't know how the fix a wound like this without a needle and thread, which nobody has," he said, taking his clock off to reveal the sleeveless black shirt underneath. He almost cocooned Hidan in it before lifting him up. Then he grabbed Kakuzu and heaved him over his shoulder. "Let's go," he said.


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you so much for all the support for this story, and I'm sorry for taking such a long break! Basically I forgot to update, didn't have time, or just didn't have the energy to. Or I was away. And then when I tried to upload documents the site wouldn't let me upload them. But that's fixed now, so please enjoy chapter 9!

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Zetsu, Tobi, Pein and Konan had decided to take the "avoid all fights except ones with Orochimaru until Hidan and Kakuzu had been found and retrieved" option. It was working, if you counted being chased by about thirty ninjas down a thin corridor as a plan working.

"I'm starting to think it would be easier to just defeat them here so we didn't have to run so fast and waste so much energy," Tobi said. "This is getting slightly stupid."

"How about everyone except Pein stays and fights?" Zetsu suggested. "He can go and find Hidan and Kakuzu, or fight Orochimaru, and we get rid of thirty pursuers."

"It could work," Pein said. "Let's go with it."

So whist Pein ran on ahead the other three stopped in their tracks and turned. "Attack!" as Tobi felt inclined to bellow as they raced towards the Sound ninja.

Pein silently cursed Orochimaru's maze like hideout. He had figured out that there was one main path, if you veered off you ended back on the path, except for a few exceptions. But there were doors everywhere, and he found out that checking all of them could get him killed when he opened the door to a large snake which almost devoured him whole if it hadn't been for a timely fire jutsu. It also took way too long. But it had to be done. Why hadn't he brought all the Paths of Pain? He cursed his stupidity as he opened another door.

"Hello Leader."

Pein recognised Orochimaru's smooth voice straight away. He walked into the room, and the door slammed shut behind him.

"Hello Orochimaru," he said, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the Snake Sannin. "Care to share where Hidan and Kakuzu are?"

"They've already been found sadly," Orochimaru said. "I've have to go and retrieve them."

"No," Pein said. "You won't."

"Oh," Orochimaru said, smiling. "And why's that?"

"Because you're going to die right here," Pein said, withdrawing and lifting a kunai.

"Ah, but Pein my dear boy," Orochimaru said. "Don't you remember, I could have killed you all those years ago. But here you are now, alive and well. You owe me."

"You couldn't be any further from the truth," Pein said. "This is Yahiko's body. His dead body. Only me and Konan live. You didn't kill us because Jiraiya and Tsunade would have stopped you. I owe you nothing."

"How ungrateful," Orochimaru said. Pein rushed forward.

"Which way is out?" Deidara yelled. "We're gone past this place before!"

"It all looks the same idiot!" Itachi yelled.

"Shut up and run!" Sasori yelled. "It's gaining!"

"It" in this case was a large boulder. As in the ones you get in Indiana Jones. Yes a large boulder was rolling after the group of six. Kisame had tripped over a wire, and a large trapdoor in the ceiling had opened up and let lose a boulder.

"Help!" Deidara yelled as they turned a corner. Unluckily however, the ground was tilted in such a way that the boulder followed them.

"Kill them!"

"Hey guys!" Tobi yelled as he appeared with Zetsu and Konan from a different corridor, followed by about fifty ninja.

"You guys, sprint forward and follow us!" Itachi bellowed.

"Are you trying to kill them? The boulder will get them!" Deidara yelled as they ran on.

"I'm hoping it won't get them," Itachi said.

"A boulder? Holy freaking crap!" Zetsu yelled as he and the others appeared and sprinted after the others. Several screams were heard as most of the Sound nin didn't realise the boulder was there and ran straight into its path. They were crushed. Then, because the ground was tilted, the boulder shot towards the rest of them, crushing them.

"That worked well," Konan commented. "I see you found Hidan and Kakuzu."

"Yeah. Where's Pein?" Kisame asked. "Wasn't he with you?"

"We split up so we could fight and he could look," Konan said. "We haven't seen him since."

"So now we have to find Pein?" Sasori said, sighing. "Great."


	10. Chapter 10

Hope you enjoy

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_Drip_

_Drip_

_Drip_

It was raining outside. Just like his birth place.

_Drip_

_Drip_

_Drip_

Or was it his blood? Pein looked down and saw that yes, it was his blood, slowly dripping to the floor. More of it seeped out of the wound found on his shoulder, trickling down his arm, on to his wrist, on to the palm of his hand, and on to his fingers, where it fell to the floor.

"What wrong? You seem tired already Pein. Or should I call you Yahiko, that seems to be that corpse's name," Orochimaru said. Pein looked up and smiled.

"I'm not tired," he said. "Just at ease."

Orochimaru grimaced. "This isn't a playground _boy_," he said, adding a small hiss to the word boy. "Grow up, take the world seriously. Maybe then you could deal with death."

The smile disappeared. "What do you mean?" Pein asked, his voice cold.

"I have snakes everywhere," Orochimaru said, his long tongue spilling out of his mouth and licking his lips. "I know when someone dies."

"So you realised that we're killing all your lot?" Pein said mockingly. Orochimaru smiled, a ghoulish smile that sent a shiver up Pein's spine.

"No my dear boy, you've got it the wrong way round. We're killing all your lot," he said. "When was the last time you heard an explosion? Or the sound of rushing water? The screams of people being burnt by poison?"

"When was the last time I heard anything besides your voice?" Pein interrupted. "This room is soundproof, I can't hear anything from outside." He smiled again as he saw that he had foiled that plan. But Orochimaru kept on smiling.

"Didn't you think that Jiraiya told me about you?" he asked. "Told me about you three? I know all about you Pein, all about the Konoha ninjas who came into your house, and when you and your parents were sneaking out, you knocked over the vase that caused your parents to be slaughtered. And how you killed the ninjas after. How you met Yahiko and Konan, how you met us, where you lived with Jiraiya."

"Your point is?" Pein asked. "Because, I'll be honest with you, I don't see where the hell you're going with this."

"It means Pein, that I know your weakness," Orochimaru said, smirking.

"If you're thinking garlic and crosses, it won't work," Pein said.

"No no, I'm talking about the fact that you care. About so many things. Especially the Akatsuki, the group that Yahiko founded all those years ago. The current members have been with you for over a year correct? More than enough time to know enough about them to care. All the other leaders don't care about their group, you're the only one who does."

"I'm not following you here, just how is this going to help you defeat me?" Pein asked.

"Simple. I merely go and kill one or two of your group, throwing you into a rage, which means I can much more easily kill you, and then go and imprison the others, my replacement interests me with those mouths on his hands."

Pein froze, a completely emotionless yet rage filled expression coming over his eyes. "Orochimaru, there is a reason that I did not send every single person I had under my command to kill you the second you left us. And that was because I thought you weren't a complete monster, because I thought you would keep to yourself, not oppose us. After a while, you start threatening the life of the nine tails jinchuriki. I didn't stop you. You turned one of Sasori's spies against us. I didn't do anything. But then you went and did this. You went and kidnapped one of my lot, and then jailed the person sent to rescue him. You notice it's only now I do anything. It's not because I don't want you to find out the secrets of my organization, it's because I actually give a shit about their welfare. So let's see...abandoning the Akatsuki has a punishment of death, threatening our plan by threatening the jinchuriki's life also leads to death, but turning a spy against us actually isn't that bad for you, we just have to kill the spy...but to be frank, it's better to kill both the spy and his boss. So that's a mere...three death sentences. Any requests on how you want to die, any last words?"

"Actually, yes," Orochimaru said. "I have something to say. Goodbye."

Pein yelled a quarter of the words he had got off Hidan as something slipped out of Orochimaru's sleeve and exploded. A blinding light filled the air blinding Pein to the point where shutting his eyes did nothing to stop the light blinding him. He stumbled around blindly for at least a minute before the light faded. It took another half a minute for him to recover from the experience, during the time he recited another quarter of the words he had learnt just by having Hidan in the same place as him. When he finally recovered he opened his eyes and blinked several times. Orochimaru was gone.


	11. Chapter 11

"Fuck!" Pein bellowed, sprinting over to the door. It was locked. "Fuck!" he bellowed again, ramming it. It didn't budge. Undeterred, Pein performed a basic earth technique to blast a hole in the wall.

"Orochimaru!" he roared as he sprinted down the corridor.

"I have a really horrible feeling that something's about to happen," Deidara said. Sasori glared at the teen. "What?" Deidara asked.

"Last time you had a feeling that something was happening, we ended up here with a half dead Hidan and Kakuzu," the red head said, rolling his eyes. "Knowing our luck, something's going to have to happen now."

CRASH!

"Is that what you meant you felt something was about to happen?" Zetsu yelled over the sound.

"I think so!" Deidara yelled back, almost choking on the dust that somehow gathered in his mouth. As the debris was pushed off various Akatsuki members and the dust cleared, a large misshapen thing was revealed. After all the dust had cleared, the thing was revealed to be a large snake.

"Holy crap!" Deidara yelled. "What does that thing eat?"

"That's the first thing to comes to mind?" Sasori asked. "Shouldn't you be more worried about the guy standing on top of it?"

Deidara glanced at the top of the snake's head. Then he clicked his fingers in annoyance. "Ummm...Orochimaru! That's Orochimaru!" he finally yelled.

"An afterthought?" Itachi muttered.

"I cannot believe you guys..." Kisame mumbled. "Hurry up and run already!"

"Way ahead of you!" Zetsu yelled from down the corridor, where he was with Tobi and Konan.

"What are you doing down there?" Deidara yelled, already sprinting towards them.

"Thinking ahead!" Zetsu yelled back. "Now hurry up and run, that thing's chasing you!"

He was right, the snake had turned and was now slithering towards them, seemingly going a lot faster than any snake should. Obviously, the chase was decorated by a lot of cursing and swearing as the snake made attempts to bit the Akatsuki's legs off, or just swallow them whole.

"Hey, guys?" Tobi said. "I just realized two things. One, we're lost. Two, surely there should be some traps in this place, shouldn't we be looking out for them as well?"

"Don't be stupid Tobi, why would Orochimaru lay traps in a place where a lot of his henchmen where walking and running around?" Sasori asked.

"Well surely they would know," Tobi argued. "Besides, this could also be a place where prisoners or people like that are kept, so traps are needed to keep them in."

"You're over thinking things," Sasori dismissed, just as he stumbled over something. And of course, a trapdoor had to open up underneath the Akatsuki's feet.

"AAAHHHH!" all seven awake Akatsuki screamed as they fell six meters or so. Five of them landed with barely any pain, only slightly shaken up. Sasori was not one of those five, having landed first and therefore having nothing to stop him hitting the hard stone floor. Deidara was also unlucky, having crashed into Sasori and wracking his head painfully on the puppet's chest, which also knocked all the breath out of Sasori. And then everyone else crashed into them.

"Owww," Sasori and Deidara muttered as the others got up.

"I told you," Tobi said, looking in Sasori's direction.

"Well this is convenient," a horrible voice calmly said. "You're all in one place."

"Orochimaru!" Kisame cried out. "Well this a pleasant surprise, how have you been?"

"Stop trying to save yourself!" the others yelled, Sasori even jumping up and backhanding Kisame across the face to get the point across. Kisame wasn't put off however.

"Nice thing you've got going here. And you even have your own village...impressive. We never really spoke, but I have to admit, this is good," he said.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Orochimaru said.

"But will the truth?" Kisame asked mysteriously. "The fact that you're trying to suppress Pein? That mean anything? Because I think you are. Let's review, Pein has a village, you have a lot of control over a country. Pein's the leader of an organisation, you're the leader of an even bigger organisation. Shall I go on?"

Orochimaru ha something that could be called rage in his eyes. "Kill him," he commanded the snake as he jumped off its head. The snake instantly shot downwards towards Kisame. The blue haired man stood there, eyes shut, completely calm. Then he opened them.

"Don't compare yourself to a better man," he said, his voice full of rage as he tossed Hidan up into the air and produced something from his pocket. He placed part of it in his mouth and pulled, before throwing it into the snake's open mouth. He caught Hidan as he fell.

"JUMP!" he bellowed. Startled, everyone in the hole did so.

BOOM!

The snake literally exploded. Scales, meat, guts, even teeth, they covered the hole and sprayed the ceiling. Kisame had flung a small bomb into the snake. The Akatsuki fled down the corridor, wiping snake from their faces.

"I think I got covered in part of its heart," Tobi mumbled, peeling a large piece of flesh from his arm.

"Shut up and run!" Kisame bellowed. "We aren't going to fight Orochimaru in such a small space! Get outside!"


End file.
